In an email dated June 28, 2015, Abramovic wrote, “I am so looking forward to the Spirit Cooking dinner at my place. Do you think you will be able to let me know if your brother is joining? All my love, Marina.”

Tony Podesta forwarded the email to his brother, asking him, “Are you in NYC Thursday July 9 Marina wants you to come to dinner.”

“With a sharp knife, cut deeply into the middle finger of your left hand and eat the pain,” one message reads.

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Other messages were written in the same cryptic manner: “Fresh morning urine sprinkle over nightmare dreams” and “Mix fresh breast milk with fresh sperm milk. Drink on earthquake nights.”

In a Reddit forum, Abramovic was asked during a Q&A what place she thought occult magic had in contemporary art.

“Everything depends on which context you are doing what you are doing. If you are doing the occult magic in the context of art or in a gallery, then it is the art,” she replied. “If you are doing it in different context, in spiritual circles or private house or on TV shows, it is not art. The intention, the context for what is made, and where it is made defines what art is or not.”

Author Cassandra Fairbanks delved into the background of Abramovic and found a history of odd performances, some of which included allowing an audience to do whatever they wanted to her with items that were laid out on a table.

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“Abramovic is known for her often-gory art that confronts pain and ritual. Her first performance involved repeatedly stabbing herself in her hands,” Fairbanks wrote. “The next performance featured her throwing her nails, toenails, and hair into a flaming five-point star — which she eventually jumped inside of, causing her to lose consciousness.”

Perhaps most famously, in 1974, Abramovic placed 72 objects on a table, including a rose, a feather, honey, a whip, olive oil, scissors, a scalpel — and a gun and a single bullet. “Alongside the items was a sign informing the audience that the items could be used on her in any way that they chose,” Fairbanks added. “During that time, she was stripped, cut, and one audience member even held the gun to her head.”